E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post gets it

From E.J.Dionne today:This administration has operated on the basis of a hyperpartisanship not seen in decades. Worse, the destroy-the-opposition, our-team-vs.-their-team approach has infected large parts of the conservative movement and the Republican Party.

"This administration has operated on the basis of a hyperpartisanship not seen in decades. Worse, the destroy-the-opposition, our-team-vs.-their-team approach has infected large parts of the conservative movement and the Republican Party."[Snip]

"Last I checked, conservatives were deeply committed to the rule of law. They said so frequently during the Clinton impeachment saga.

But the conscientious Libby jury had barely announced its conclusions when the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the National Review, among others, called for a pardon because the case, as the Journal editorial put it, involved "a travesty of justice."

In other words, when an impartial judicial system does something that conservatives don't like, the will of conservatives, not the rule of law, should triumph. Is there any doubt that a Democrat who used executive power to protect a convicted political ally from the consequences of the legal process would be savaged for abusing his authority?"[Snip]

A reader once expressed his amazement that Republicans win office by saying government can't work, then go about proving it. They don't take responsibility for their failures until they have no other choice. Instead, they just keep discrediting government by shifting as much blame as possible to that wonderfully serviceable group of unnamed creatures called "bureaucrats."[Snip]

"Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson [Republican & Conservative couldn't resist telling NPR's Melissa Block on Monday that to help veterans get what they deserve, it was necessary "to cut the sometimes just overbearing bureaucracy that can confront these people." That's the overbearing bureaucracy Nicholson himself runs."[Snip]

All [*] of which leaves conservatives and Republicans who care about the rule of law with a choice. If they keep going along with this White House's way of doing business, their own cause will continue to suffer long after the president's term is over. Principled conservatives should be the first to want to clean up these stables and end the hyperpartisanship.

[*](That's assuming there remain at least three conservatives and Republicans who both understand and care about the rule of Law. Here in Texas, the Republican Party has not nominated such individuals for public office for at least the last three decades, perhaps longer.]